Broken Souls
by Mononoke-hime x sukai kurora
Summary: Two unlikely souls connect with one another after the war.


Implied one sided Ishida/Inoue and Byakuya/Hisana. Also hinted Byakuya/Renji.

* * *

 _Broken Souls_

Kuchiki Byakuya observed the disheveled man bound in kido ropes in front of him. His dark hair was streaked with dried blood, and his entire torso bound with bandages. Blood stains coated the former Wandenreich uniform. Cracked glasses were pointed to the floor, and Byakuya noted of the clenched hands drawing blood, nails stained with the familiar red liquid dry and old to his eyes. The Kuchiki noble almost felt pity for the last Quincy of the Wandenreich. Ishida Uryū was his name, a proud Quincy who reportedly hated Shinigami, but he had not reacted when Byakuya entered the heavily guarded room.

"I am here to question you, Quincy." Byakuya stated in a monotone voice. The former comrade of Kurosaki Ichigo did not respond. "As an enemy of Soul Society and the Gotei 13, there are orders for your upcoming execution in your relation to the Wandenreich." Byakuya observed that the Quincy did not respond, with not even a flicker of fear regarding his execution. "I am here to question your motives, and of why you betrayed the commander of Yhwach at the start of the final battle between him and Kurosaki Ichigo." There was a pause. "Do you understand?"

There was a slight sound of the chains across his hands moving. _How sickening,_ Byakuya thought as his dark gray eyes observed the chains – made in the human world – tightened across the Quincy's arms and legs. Each chain was attached to the dark stone wall behind him, leaving the dark-haired Quincy without the ability to escape. _The kido ropes bind his spiritual energy and deplete him of his powers._ The dark-haired Shinigami noted of how the right hand shook slightly, blood leaking down his palms as the young Quincy rasped,

"Yes."

The voice was empty and his blue eyes were hollow. Byakuya stared, not willing to break his gaze as a forgotten memory began to surface.

"I want to die."

Byakuya's face remained expressionless. "Why do you say that, Quincy? Is it perhaps because you have been defeated?"

"No." The Quincy raised his head, and Byakuya could see of how pale and wan his skin looked. Dark circled were under his eyes. "Shinigami, I ask of you why you are here to question me instead of Kurosaki."

"I am asking questions at this point in time, Quincy." Byakuya stated as he looked at Ishida Uryū. "Kurosaki Ichigo is still full of anger and betrayal despite your latter actions in the final battle. That is why he is not present."

Ishida Uryū did not respond for a moment. Then, there was a sudden small smile on his face.

"That's how he is isn't he? Always…too into his emotions to think clearly." The smile became a thin line and a raw emotion Byakuya refused to name echoed in his eyes. "Why do I want to die, you ask? It is because of a simple reason." The Quincy's eyes closed shut, and his hands fell loosely to his sides. "I am…alone. I always have been. I had tried…in the two years that I had known them, to understand that I was…wanted and needed. But…" The Quincy's voice faltered for a moment, and his eyes opened to fall into Byakuya's. _Hollow…emptiness…loneliness…_ the noble thought as he stared into Ishida Uryū's eyes before the Quincy turned away. "You being here, with no one in sight, I realize that what I thought I had was only an illusion." He sighed, and looked at his chains before slowly beginning to speak. "My former comrades…do not care if I live or die. Nor…does my father."

Byakuya was still as the Quincy spoke almost inaudibly, halting and thickening as he continued. The noble felt something break within him as he stared at the broken soul. He remembered too, long ago, of when he had felt the same emptiness. The feeling of being alone in this world. _Hisana…_

"Being part of the four noble families, I was required to relinquish my emotions. As such, I am adapt at reading anyone's genuine emotions." Byakuya said softly. "My grandfather told me that to cry is the sign of weakness, and that pride and honor come before the blood and sentiment of feelings. I can tell, Quincy, that you experienced something similar to with your father. He told you that you should not cry, to shatter your emotions, and that discouraged you from becoming a Quincy." There was a slight flinch from the dark-haired Quincy, and Byakuya continued despite seeing the rawness of his emotions in his gaze. "Your father gave you no love, leaving you in the care of your grandfather for most of your childhood as your mother had weakened considerably since giving birth to you. Your father continues to rebuke you, proclaiming you have no talent and that you are pathetic. Your feelings of worthlessness and anger exacerbated in the aftermath of your grandfather's death…"

"STOP!" There was pain and agony deep within those blue depths, and Byakuya saw of how unstable the boy was, actually feeling the helplessness and despair oozing from him. "Just _stop it_!" He was taking deep and gasping breaths, the chains digging into his palms as the pale hands continued to try to break free.

"You do not value your life anymore, Ishida Uryū." At the sound of those words, the Quincy stilled. "You are as empty as the Hollows you hate, and I cannot guarantee you will not become one if you executed." Byakuya shifted his eyes to the still body to the chains. They were no longer being pulled. "You had some feelings and heart, Ishida Uryū, when the war began. Why now have you become a shell of despair and emptiness?"

 _I know why,_ Byakuya thought to himself as he watched the Quincy lower his head. _But I want him to admit what is hidden in his heart._

"Inoue- _san_ …" There was a crack, and Byakuya was calm as tears started to pour down the Quincy's face. "Inoue- _san_ …does not care for me. She only sees me as…disposable."

"I find that hard to believe," Byakuya stated as he observed the Quincy with tears trailing down his cheeks. "She was the only one of your…former comrades to insist that you be spared execution."

"She is a very kind person," Ishida Uryū stated. "Not suited for battle or war…and such she believes no one should die." His voice thickened. "No…one. I am, only to her, a friend and replaceable, compared to Kurosaki Ichigo. I joined Yhwach because I believed it was the only right way to betray him. I…wanted to save the world, not for myself, but for…Inoue- _san_. I…wanted her to be happy." The fingers coated with stained blood curled in raw agony. "But to find out that I am simply overshadowed by another is…"

 _…Hell._ Byakuya answered as silver tears continued to trace Ishida Uryū's face. _A hell that you cannot escape, that is as if your heart was gone, mutilated by a hole that can never heal. Pure agony…and loneliness._

 _Ishida Uryū_ , Byakuya thought as he stared at the shaking Quincy, _I see myself in you more than anyone than I have met in my two hundred years._

"I…" _But…why am I telling him this?_ "I know such pain as well, Ishida Uryū. I fell in love with a peasant woman named Hisana. I gave her my heart as you did to Inoue Orihime. Although Hisana cared for me, she did not love me. She was…haunted by her past and believed herself unworthy of happiness. I…allowed her to search for her younger sister despite of the pain I felt when I knew in my heart, that she did share my feelings. She died…and I felt as hollow and alone as you do now, Ishida Uryū." Byakuya swallowed inwardly and remembered of how Hisana had pleaded with him to find her sister and protect her with his strength, and telling him she was sorry that she could not return his love. He had cried that day, the mask and emotions coming free as Byakuya was alone with his beloved's body. The other time he had cried had been when…

 _I thought I was about to die and pleaded to Kurosaki Ichigo to save Soul Society. I abandoned my pride and cried tears in front of him. And I…lived. Inwardly, I wondered what I was supposed to do now that I had lived. I had been shamefully defeated, unable to protect anyone…including those closest to my heart. I thought of whom I wanted to protect,_ what _I wanted to protect, and that caused me to keep living despite being an empty soul._

"I lost my parents before I had memory of them, Ishida Uryū. I was raised and trained by my grandfather." Byakuya remembered of when he had been a child, servants calling for him as he sat outside, waiting for his grandfather to return home. Although Renji had the perception that he had a perfect childhood with loving parents and a carefree life, only those who truly knew him knew of what a sad and lonely child he had been. _My grandfather was everything to me. I wanted to make him proud, to make him see that I was strong and worthy of passing on the honor and pride of the Kuchiki name._ "I had the same feelings as you did to your grandfather. I lived to please him and to make him proud." _Every day I trained, no matter how hard it was._ "One day, shortly after Hisana's death, the sixth division was sent on a mission in Hueco Mundo. We were outnumbered, and I failed my duty as a lieutenant to protect my captain. Needless to say, my grandfather died that day." The Kuchiki noble could see the raw understanding in the Quincy's eyes. His hands were calmly by his sides now, and Byakuya remembered of how clenched his hands had been, smeared with blood, as he heard his grandfather's last words to him. _"You…are my pride, Byakuya. You are my heart." Heart…a saying in the Kuchiki clan of pure unconditional love. Of love and of the soul being completed with another. "Are you…crying Byakuya?"_

 _"No…Grandfather. It is…only the rain."_

"I have found that the only action to heal a broken soul is to continue to live and connect with others," Byakuya whispered to the dark-haired Quincy. "I have…yet to completely heal, and yet I feel connected to those closest to my heart."

"Who…are they…?" Ishida Uryū rasped slowly.

"Kuchiki Rukia and Abarai Renji," Byakuya whispered. His dark gray eyes bored into blue. "They…complete me both in their different ways." Slowly, Byakuya spoke. _Rukia is my pride, and Renji…is…_ "You still love Inoue Orihime, Ishida Uryū. I know that you know this in the depths of your heart. Despite loving her from afar and when he heart belongs to another."

"Are you telling me…there is still a reason to live, Kuchiki Byakuya?" the Quincy looked up and observed Byakuya through his hollow eyes. "Despite of my actions? I almost…"

"There is always a will to live even though the heart is dead, Ishida Uryū. You will live," Byakuya stated to him as he began to turn away. His dark grey eyes for the first time reflected the genuine emotion inside. "You will live and thank me for it."

Inside as Byakuya exited the prison cell, Ishida Uryū looked up where he knew the sky was above.

* * *

"That was how you came to have your name."

A small child was beside Uryū as he walked, holding his hand as she looked at him with her wide gray eyes. Ishida Uryū stared at her, lovingly smiling as he watched as his daughter's long black hair waved slightly in the wind. She was wearing her school uniform for the first time, meticulous and straight with her normal serious expression gone as she stared in wonder at her father. _She is more like me…unlike her brother._ Uryū smiled softly at the thought of his wife and older son. _He was so excited to start his day at school and meet new friends that he went ahead of us._

The Quincy stared at the sky, wondering how a certain noble was faring. _I hope your broken soul has healed…as mine has, Kuchiki Byakuya. You were right. I still loved Orihime all that time, and she loves me too. After I came back to the human world, she told me of how much she believed me, and that she would heal me until my soul was no longer broken. Although…I do not believe she thought that she would fall in love with me._

 _I have thanked you for it, Kuchiki Byakuya…and I…_

 _"Tōchan_?" Uryū looked to find his daughter tugging on his arm, worry crossing her face as her older brother stood waiting from them with their mother by their side. "Are we going with _Kāchan_ and Uso?"

"Yes, Hakuyumi." Uryū grabbed his daughter's little hand in his. _My soul has been completed because of three precious people, Kuchiki Byakuya. I thank you._

 _"Ikou."_

* * *

 _Haku_ \- another reading of white, which is part of Byakuya's name. _Yumi_ \- arrow. I took the name of Ishida's and Inoue's son from another story. Please don't report me, I just liked the name! Therefore, (if I spelled his name correctly) Uso translates as end of rain, which is a recurring theme of sadness in _Bleach_ because the birth of his son to cause Ishida's rain to finally stop.


End file.
